ANN ARBOR—The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is partnering with the University of Michigan School of Public Health to help communities throughout the country combat the rising tide of asthma among children.

The Foundation’s Allies Against Asthma program has awarded grants of about $150,000 each to eight communities to develop models that improve access to and the quality of clinical care, reduce asthma symptoms, and foster patient and community education.

The eight coalitions, based in Albuquerque/Bernalillo County, N.M.; HamptonRoads, Va.; Long Beach, Calif.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Seattle/KingCounty, Wash.; Washington, D.C.; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, will be eligible for three-year implementation grants of up to $1.35 million.

The key to this program “is to tackle the problem of asthma through coalitions that integrate clinical, environmental, and community-derived approaches,” said program director Noreen M. Clark, dean of the U-M School of Public Health and the Marshall H. Becker Collegiate Professor of Public Health. “We have to put together pieces of a puzzle. No one approach will solve the problem. Coalitions can fit strategies together and learn how to reduce the impact of asthma on large numbers of children and teen-agers.”

Seth Emont, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said, “Asthma rates are rising dramatically in this country, especially among children and especially in poor and urban minority communities. Allies Against Asthma will help build community-based partnerships among different public and private agencies to mobilize resources for asthma control.”

The coalitions—which include clinics, hospitals, public health agencies, health care plans, schools, parents, child care providers, housing and environmental organizations, researchers, and public health agencies—will combine clinical and public health approaches to control asthma in their communities.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, affecting more than 14.9 million Americans, including an estimated 5 million children. Rates in children have increased by 92 percent over the past decade. The primary aims of the Allies Against Asthma program are: to enhance the quality of life of children with asthma; to reduce hospital admissions, emergency room visits, and number of missed school days by children with asthma; and to develop a sustainable strategy for asthma management within communities.

If these partnerships (see attached list) succeed, the Foundation anticipates replicating the Allies Against Asthma approach for mobilizing community resources against other chronic health conditions.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It concentrates its grant-making in three goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to basic health care at reasonable cost; to improve care and support for people with chronic health conditions; and to reduce the personal, social, and economic harm caused by substance abuse—tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.

For more information, contact Maureen Cozine, RWJF News Line, (609) 243-5937; or Lisa Powers, Allies Against Asthma National Program Office, (734) 615-4395.

Allies Against Asthma Grantees

1. Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Asthma Coalition Project Director: Debra A. Erekson 216 Truman Street, N.E. Albuquerque, NM 87108-1333

2. Milwaukee Allies Against Asthma Coalition Project Director: John R. Meurer 8701 Watertown Plank Road Milwaukee, WI 53226-0509

3. Allies Against Asthma Workgroup Consortium for Infant and Child Health (CINCH) Project Director: Cynthia S. Kelly 855 West Brambleton Avenue Norfolk, VA 23510-1005

4. Philadelphia Allies Against Asthma Coalition Project Director: Robert J. Groves 260 South Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19102-5085

5. Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma Project Director: Elisa Nicholas 2801 Atlantic Avenue Long Beach, CA 90801

6. Alianza Contra el Asma Pediatrica en Puerto Rico Project Co-Directors: Nicolás Linares P.O. Box 365067 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-5067

Marielena Lara 1700 Main Street P.O. Box 2138 Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138

7. King County Asthma Forum Project Director: Sharon A. Dobie University of Washington Box 356390 Seattle, WA 98195-6390

8. D.C. Asthma Coalition Project Director: Carol Hill Lowe 475 H Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001-2617

Robert Wood Johnson FoundationAllies Against Asthma programNoreen M. ClarkConsortium for Infant and Child HealthKing County Asthma ForumD.C. Asthma Coalition